Halfway There
by Abyss Prime
Summary: My brother and I have been through alot lately. Parents fighting, struggling to make ends meet, gang members... But no matter what, I promised to be there for him. What happens when there's no one there for me? T for now.
1. Life's Challenges

**A/N: Alright-y guys! I'm back with a new story. I reread some of my others and I just want to shoot myself. So, all those are discontinued for a while as I work on this one. THIS IS A PILOT CHAPTER! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, PLEASE! Okay, now that that's done, enjoy the chapter!**

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Everything was still and quiet. Every house was dark, all its occupancies sleeping… except for mine. The living room light was on and my parents were, once again, having a screaming match.

"FOR ONCE WHY CAN'T YOU-"

"IF YOU WEREN'T SUCH A FUCKING LOWLIFE-"

These types of things were unfortunately very common occurrences in the Kirby house hold and they never ceased to put me on edge. _And _it scares my little brother, Danny.

"'Rider, can we go to Josh's?" Danny whispers into my shirt as he's sitting in my lap.

"Sure Dev'. We can watch the rest of Predacons Rising," I answered him softly, knowing that the promise of the movie and the use of the nickname would get him to calm down. And just like I hoped, he grinned and jumped off my lap and grabbed my keys, holding them out to me, forcing me to laugh.

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Lucky for us, we managed to escape the house without our parents notice, not that it was that hard anyway, and we hit the rode in my dad Scion FR-S. I loved that thing to pieces and I stole it for joy rides with Danny as often as I could.

The streets were dark and quiet, making it easy to drive without paying too much attention, which was good because every few seconds I would glance at Danny or Deveron as he demands to be called. He absolutely loves anything to do with Transformers and the new Transformers: Prime series has got him hooked. His favorite character is Optimus Prime. He practically worships the titanium giant. He loves the Autobots and when I asked him about it, he said that the 'bots were like the family he wished he had.

I went to my room and cried at that.

"You okay Dev'?" I asked.

He glanced up at me from where he was hunkered down in the passenger seat. "… m'fine…"

"Come now, little sparklet. You can do better than that," I chided as I slipped into my alter ego Danny created for me. Nightrider, while my real name is Jean, he calls me 'Rider because it makes him comfortable.

Danny huffed and glared out the window mumbling under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I _said_ that I'm not a sparkling! I'm a youngling, there's a difference!" He vented with all the attitude of an offended seven-year-old.

"Ooooh, yeah Dev'. _Biiiiig_ difference between the two," I teased knowing that this was going to get him riled up beyond believe. He didn't disappoint.

"I'm _not_ a _sparkling_! A sparkling is a _baby_!" He shouted as he bolted up in the seat.

Before he could go on in some bit tirade, I reached over and ruffled his unruly mane of black hair with a chuckle.

"I know kiddo. You're a youngling… A very _young_ youngling…" I grinned as he huffed and started playing with the radio. I smiled and nodded my head along with the song called 'Hero' by Skillet.

_I need a hero to save my life! (A hero's gonna save me just in time!)_

"Optimus is a hero…," Danny said so quietly that I almost missed it. My gaze flicked from the road to him and back again.

"Yup, he sure is," I agreed softly. "Did you know that our uncle, Pat, is a hero too?"

His sky blue eyes lit up excitedly. "Just like Optimus?"

"Exactly like him," I said with a grin.

"So Optimus is our uncle, Ratchet is our grandpa, Bulkhead is like our cousin, Derik, um… Oh! Arcee is our big sister, Bee and Smokes are our brothers, and Wheeljack is like the cool uncle that visits every once in a while with awesome gifts!" He beamed up at me. My smile faltered slightly before I was able to force it in place.

"Yup, Uncle Oppy," I said with forced cheerfulness. That caused him to collapse into a fit of giggles so he didn't see the troubled look on my face. It's saddening that Danny sees fictional characters as a better family than his real one.

"Hey, 'Rider? What's that?" His voice breaks me from my thoughts.

"Hmm? What's what?"

"That!" He said pointing toward the woods on the side of the woods. "It looks like a Groundbridge!"

I pulled over to the side of the road so I could stare properly.

A bluish hue was coming out from the tree on the side of the road and looked to be fluctuating, getting bright and then dimming. If you strained your ears, you could hear a faint humming.

"Come on, 'Rider! Let's check it out!" Danny shouted over his shoulder as he disappeared into the trees.

_How the fuck did he _do_ that without me noticing? _, was my first thought.

_Holy shit, Danny!_ , was my panicking second one.

"_DANNY!"_ I cried and got out of the car as fast as I could and bolted after him. "_DANNY, WAIT!"_

I followed the blue light; knowing that is where he had gone. I found him standing in a clearing with his mouth gapping and a look of awe in his eyes. He turned toward me as I skidded to a stop next to him.

"It _is_ a Groundbridge...," he breathed out. I stared at was, for all intent and purpose, a Groundbridge.

It actually did look like one. It was mainly a bluish-white with a blinding white center and flashes with green and purple.

"_Holy shit_…"

"You said a bad word," Danny said with wide eyes. I ignored him and slowly approached the portal of light.

"Could we go through?!" Danny gushed excitedly. I opened my mouth to give an instant 'no' but paused. I gave him a sidelong look from the corner of my eye.

He caught my look. "What? It's not like we want to stay," he stated with a hand on his hip.

Is it sad that I know he's right?

"Come on, 'Rider!" He exclaimed with mild irritation.

"Dev," I hesitated. "We don't know what's going to be on the other side; we don't know what's going to happen-" I was cut off by Danny grabbing my hand and squeezing it.

"It'll be okay, 'Rider. Uncle will help us and teach us. He'll understand," his child's voice said with a quiet undertone that I know didn't belong to him.

"What have we got to lose?"

_Each other…, _I thought. Danny was already moving toward the bridge, tugging on my hand to follow. I resisted for a moment before following him.

And we walked, hand in hand, into the glowing vortex, leaving our world behind for good.

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**A/N: Please for the love of all that's holy, TELL ME WHAT YOU THNIK! So sorry for those who are following/faving my other stories.**


	2. Godly Changes

**F/A-18 E Superhornet**

I just floated. There was nothing for me to look at, nothing for me to do. Just… float. The last thing that I remember is walking through the light and a blinding flash of pain and I wind up here. In oblivion.

Let me tell you somethin', being dead sucks.

I don't know how long I was there or why this happened, but here I am floating and bored outta my mind. As I floated along, I started to get these weird flashes of memory. Not my memory, I remember my life just fine. It was someone else's. Not many of the memories were nice ones. Battles raged between enemies in metal cities, hold friends close as they died, watching innocents get slaughtered.

I noticed something consistent about the memories though. They were in first person; I was experiencing this like it was me who did these things. The flow of memory suddenly stops when a huge explosion on a ship in space happens.

I shrieked in pain as it felt like my body was on fire and being torn apart. Tears of pain rolled down my cheeks as I screamed my agony into the darkness.

"Poor child," Something whispered softly in my ear that I heard even through the pain. "I hope you can come to forgive me for doing this to you but I needed you to understand."

Something cool suddenly washed over me, taking the pain away and soothing the ache in my chest that I never knew was there. I groaned softly and tried to see what was talking. "W-ho's the-re?"

A gentle rumble seemed to fill the darkness and made my bones rattle.

"I am Primus, Little Rider. I am your, as the humans say, your father." Well if that ain't swell.

"Where are you?" I rasped, finally in control of myself.

"I am everywhere, and nowhere." Primus seemed amused by something.

I huffed then winced in pain. "Danny never said- Wait." I whirled around, or at least I think I did. "Where's Danny?"

This Primus presence felt like it receded and seemed to be saddened by something.

"Your brother, Deveron, is not currently with us. He chose to wait to be brought back, do not fear, child. You shall see your brother again." Not here? My baby brother is dead?

"Hush, little one," Primus coed softly. I felt something that felt like arms encircle me like a father would do for a young frightened child. "Hush, all is well. Do not fear I know what I am doing. Shh, Little Rider."

"I'm okay," I mumbled repeatedly, like if I said it enough it would come true. "I'm okay."

The 'arms' that were currently cradling me tightened slightly.

"Rider, I have a… proposition, of a sort, to give to you. One could lead to eternal bliss and rest, the other hardship and living the full life you were intended to have."

I raised my head to look for a face to gaze into and nearly screamed when I looked into the face of Alpha Trion. I stared blankly for a moment then slowly reached up and lightly touched the metal beard and mustache. Primus smiled and chuckled at my childish antics and I giggled, forgetting about my brother not being here.

"I always wanted to do that," I stated through my giggles. Primus rearranged me so I was settled on his hip like a toddler and that's when I noticed it. I didn't have skin. Or flesh, or bones, or anything remotely human looking.

I was made of _freaking_ metal!

"The _fuck_ man!" I promptly screeched. Primus all out laughed at that.

"Child, did you really think that in crossing to another Dimension, you would be able to keep your human body? It couldn't handle the strain the Cross put upon it, and in doing so, you died. I had no choice but to give you a new body, a better body. One that can withstand the test of time."

"What?" Was my intelligent reply. He sighed, or did something I took for sighing. A great _whoosh_ of air blew over my face and tickled something on either side of my head.

"Your old body, your human body, is no longer capable of sustaining life. In order for you to help me, you needed a few upgrades," His optics twinkled when he said that. I snorted in a un-lady like fashion.

"You could have at least _warned_ me first," I grumbled.

"And where is the fun in that, Little Rider? Now, do you wish to be loved by family, to have a family of your own?"

"Don't you already know the answer to all this?" I asked irritably.

"Well, yes," He agreed. "But is it not polite to ask first?"

"Since when does an all-powerful god care for good manners?"

"Nightrider Prime, I need you to listen to me carefully," He took me off his hip and set me on something so he could look me in the eye-err, optic. "When I created life on Cybertron, I had rules I must follow. I cannot directly interfere with my children's lives, nor could I take on a corporal form among them. I have no control over their choices. I can influence them with dreams and plant ideas in their helms, but I cannot directly interfere. That is where you come in. I chose you to go to the places I cannot, do the things I cannot. This war has gone on too long, Rider, much too long. Cybertronians are a dying race; too many have been killed in this war. It _has_ to stop, Nightrider. You must make it stop."

Well _shit_, dude. I've apparently just been recruited by a fictional god to stop a war that's been going on longer than the Earth has been around. The pressure is so _on_.

"I am sorry to put this upon you when you are in such a fragile state," Primus murmured softly stroking my helm softly.

I purred in pleasure when he touched something on the side of my head.

"Father, it's okay. I… I can do this. Just so long as I can have some help?" I raised my head to look up at him pleadingly. "I can't do it by myself, I need help."

"Child," He rumbled. "You shall never be alone in the world again. Now go, they await you."

I felt a pulling in my chest and suddenly, my heart, or spark, started beating. I gasped as Primus began to fade.

"_Go_…"

I knew nothing but blackness.

"...ey… waking up!"

"I can see that, Miko." _I know that voice…_

"Be careful. We don't know how she will wake up, or if she's even a 'bot." That was Arcee, right?

I groaned and rolled over slightly, my joints creaking from disuse.

"Where the fuck am I?" I asked (more like moaned) as I opened my optics… Only to have Ratchet's face a mere foot from mine.

"Holy shit! Fucking hell, Ratchet! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" I screeched at him as I scrambled away only to fall off the side of the berth and fall to the floor.

He snorted in amusement. "Skittish much, Nightlight?"

I huffed in annoyance and sat up holding my helm. "Don't call me that…" I muttered under my breath. According to them, I am Nightlight. According to Primus, I am Nightrider Prime.

"Ratchet, can you verify that she is indeed Nightlight? She does not look like her." I glanced up at the voice and saw Optimus himself.

"Yo, Uncle. I _am_ Nightlight; I just don't go by that name anymore. It's Nightrider Prime now."

"I don't believe you," Arcee stated with a glare. "You can only become a Prime if you have the Matrix. _You_ don't have the Matrix, Optimus does."

I sighed heavily. "Look, Arcee is it? The only reason that Optimus was picked was because he was at the right place at the right time. And the little factor that I wasn't even created yet might have something to do with it too. I was created directly by Primus for one purpose and one purpose only, to help you end this war for good."

She stared at me along with everyone else in the room. I moved to stand and I saw a black hand and yellow arm in front of me.

"_Need some help?"_ A cheerful voice asked. It was Bumblebee.

I shrugged and accepted his hand up. "Sure."

I was now standing and I found myself almost as tall as Bee was, just under his shoulder. I glanced curiously around the room and my gaze was drawn to a platform with five humans standing on it. By the looks of it, it's Miko, Jack, Raf, June, and Fowler. That give me a general idea of where we are in the series now.

Miko caught me looking at them. She ran down the platform and dodged the hands that tried to grab her. She skidded to a stop in front of me and I could feel the tension in the room.

"Hi, I'm Miko! What do you transform into? Are you really Optimus's niece? How come you're tall than Arcee if you're a girl too?" How do people deal with these questions?

"My jet mode is an F/A-18 E Superhornet and I don't have my vehicle mode yet. No, Optimus is my adopted uncle. I'm taller because… I don't really know. Ask Gramps over here." As I finished I jerked my thumb over to Ratchet and smirked when he growled.

"You know you love me."

"Unfortunately," he deadpanned. I grinned lazily; being this Nightrider Prime was quite easy. I just hope this swirl of memories in my head stops soon.

"What's your name again?" I glanced down and saw Raf gazing at me curiously behind his glasses.

"Nightrider."

"Nice to meet ya, 'Rider!" Miko said with a grin and a wave. I winced slightly, my door/seeker wings falling to lie flat against my back.

Miko's smile faltered. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's just- My… my little brother, Deveron, always called me that," I said softly.

"How did you have a little brother? Your creators were dead and they had no other sparklings," Ratchet said harshly. I raised my gaze to his and something in my face must have told him the whole story because he looked down and away.

"Sooo, we can't call you that… ummm, we could call you-" Miko started before I cut her off.

"No, it's fine. You just surprised me is all, you can call me 'Rider if you wish," I stated with a small smile to hide the pain. My brother may be joining me later, but that doesn't mean that the pain isn't there. Miko grinned and jerked her thumb over to Jack and Raf.

"That's Jack, and that's Raf, the one with the glasses. And the two adults over there are Ms. Darby and Fowler."

I nodded in greeting to the adults then turned toward Optimus.

"Could I… go now? I need to be alone," I asked softly, Primus wished to speak to me and I have to be alone to do it.

"Very well. Follow Bumblebee, he will show you to your quarters."

And that concluded my first day as an Autobot. Now to go see what that old geezer wants…


End file.
